Monday, March 11, 2013

The abandoned towns of Fukushima

Two years after the devastating Japan earthquake and tsunami that left nearly 19,000 people dead or missing and displaced more than 300,000, the surrounding towns of Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant remain abandoned. Even today, tens of thousands of survivors live in temporary housing as the area surrounding the nuclear plant remains too contaminated by radiation for residents to return for more than short visits.

The faded outline of painted footprints are seen on a street corner in the abandoned town of Naraha, which was once inside the nuclear exclusion zone surrounding the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, in Japan. The town is now open to residents for short visits but they are unable to return to live. Workers have begun attempts to clean up the town, which was contaminated with radiation when the nuclear plant was crippled by a tsunami.